Grille cover



y 1937. R. E. LINN 2,079,327

GRILLE COVER Filed Aug. 31, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

May 4, 1937.

R. E. LINN GRILLE COVER Filed Aug 31, 19:56

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. f?

R. E. LINN GRILLE COVER May 4, 1937.

Filed Aug. 31, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

Patented May 4, 1937 UNETED STATES PATET QE'FIE GRILLE COVER Robert E. Linn, Detroit, Mich.

Application August 31, 1936, Serial No. 98,715

7 Claims.

This application relates to grille covers and more particularly to fabric covers for grilles generally mounted in front of automobile radiators, and is a continuation in part of my prior application Serial No. 63,722, of February 13, 1936.

This application discloses a fabric cover provided at its vertical edges with reinforcing rods, each of which, at or near its two ends, has a hooklike formation adapted to cooperate with portions 19 of the grille or the frame thereof for supporting and stretching the cover in front of and over the grille. The rods are disposed in beaded edges of the cover, properly seamed and stitched, so that the rods, while free to rotate and be manipulable 15 in the cover edges, are firmly secured to and form integral parts of the cover.

Various rod constructions are herein disclosed and these will be discussed in a later stage of this specification; for an understanding of these rod constructions reference should be had to the appended drawings.

In these drawings:'

Fig. l discloses in front view'an automobile ra' diator grille encased within a grille frame and in 2;, front of which is disposed a fabric grille cover.

Fig. 2 is a View looking down on Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the cover edge construction on line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the 30 cover with parts cut away for purposes of clarity.

Figs. 5 and 5a disclose, side and front elevation respectively, a rod per se of the cover of Figs. 1 to 4.

Figs. 6-611, '77a7b, and 8-8a-8b respec- 35 tively show different forms of reinforcing rods for different shapes and types of covers and grilles.

Fig. 8c is an enlarged view showing the association of the rod of Figs. 8 to 8b with the fabric cover with which it is used.

i Fig. 8d is a similar view but showing the parts in a ninety degree reversed position.

Figs. 9-9a9b disclose another form of rod and also disclose for use with a rod and fabric cover a pull strip secured to the cover and through which the rod passes whereby pull upon the cover may be transmitted to the rod without imposing undue strain upon the fabric cover.

automobiles, to mount in front of the radiator a grille such as the one herein disclosed, comprising vertical grille bars [0, horizontal grille bars H and a frame l2. The grille cover of this application is for use with one of the grilles of the character now being sold as parts of automobiles of the current years and the various forms of rods herein disclosed are individually designed to cooperate with the individual grilles.

A grille cover includes a sheet of fabric tallored to fit over the lower part of the grille. The cover of this case is formed at each of its vertical edges with a tubular bead 2| produced by rows of stitching 22 and in each of thesetubular beads is a reinforcing and supporting rod 26 of relatively heavy wire, formed of the contour of the edge in which it is disposed.

Each rod of Figs. 1 to 4, and 5 has at its upper end a hook 25 and between its upper and lower ends a loop 26 dividing the rod into an upper portion 21 and a lower or free portion 28.

When the cover is to be mounted, it is held at its edges, using the rods as braces, and the hooks 25 are snapped over an appropriate one of the horizontal cross bars ll of the grille, between a vertical grille bar Ill and the frame l2. Then the portions 21 of the rods are grasped near the loops 26 and are bent or sprung forwardly so that the loops 26 are deflected out of their normal position, which is normal to the grille, into a position which permits the bights of the loops to clear another one of the horizontal cross bars ll of the grille, and the loops are pushed back towards the grille. Continued pushing back on the loops 25 by manipulation of the rods snaps the loops behind the lower cross bar II in a manner to create interlocks between the rods and the cross bars.

The rods support the cover and stretch it to prevent it from wrinkling. They also reinforce the cover and relieve the fabric of strains incident to manipulation of the cover, not only when it is being applied to or removed from a grille, but also when the cover is being opened up along the central opening line 29, from the condition of Fig. 1 to the condition of Figs. 13 and 14, or when the cover is being closed from the condition of Figs. 13 and 14 to the condition of Fig. l; the rods prevent localization of the strains incident to such operations and spread these strains over the entire reinforced edges thereof, with the result of eliminating to a considerable extent the tearing and ripping that so often occurs during manipulation of grille covers now on the market. The rods also prevent folding and consequent cracking of the cover and insure the cover being rolled on the rods for storage.

In addition, the lower ends 28 of the rods not only tend to hold the lower portion of the cover against the lower portion of the grille, but in lower portion of the cover may be raised to facilitate easy and quick removal of the cover as a whole from the grille.

The rod construction herein disclosed prevents the cover from shifting vertically along the grille. The cover can not shift upwards because of the engagement of the loops with the lower cross bars, the cover can not drop because of the engagement of the rod hooks at the upper ends of the rods with an upper cross bar of the grille.

It is also observed that the cover edges are not clamped to the grille in any localized or spotted manner, but the entire vertical edges of the cover are secured tightly against the grille. It is also observed that the weight of the cover is supported, not by the material of the cover itself, but by the rods and particularly by the upper hooks thereof which hook over the upper cross bar of the grille.

It is also observed that the cover may be of any flexible sheet material such as fabric, paper, cloth, metal foil, wire mesh screening, etc.; that the rods need not be at the very edges of the cover but might be remote therefrom with the cover having flaps between the rods and the cover edges; and that the rods need not be rotatable in the cover edge seams but might be so shaped and constructed that they cannot rotate.

It will also be observed that whereas, in the construction disclosed, the upper ends of the rods hook over grille bars and the lower ends snap over grille bars, the rods might be so constructed that the lower ends hook over and the upper ends snap over; and that instead of horizontal grille bars being used as rod supports, horizontal or angularly disposed portions of the grille frame might be used as rod supports.

For various styles of grilles, various styles of covers have been individually designed and the appearances of these covers and their shapes are of no particular importance; however, the specific formation of the reinforcing rods in the vertical edges of these covers is a matter of some note and the various shapes of reinforcing rodswhich have hitherto been designed are herein disclosed.

The rod of Figs. 5 and 5a is the one disclosed in Figs. 1 to 4 and needs no further description.

The rod of Figs. 6 and 611 includes a central portion 30 whose upper end is provided with a downwardly hooking loop 3| terminating in a free extension 32 and the lower end of the central portion3ll is formed with a long, narrow loop 33 terminating in a reversely bent handle 34.

The rod of Figs. 7 to 7b includes a central portion 36 having its upper end, bent laterally as well as rearwardly, as disclosed, to form a hook 31 capable of embracing a vertical grille bar ill from behind the same; the lower end of the central portion 36 is provided with a rearwardly directed hook 38 adapted to hook behind and into the open back of a horizontal cross bar I I. This form of rod is designed for a grille wherein the upper horizontal cross bars are not accessible or conveniently located to be engaged by the upper ends of the rods, and for that reason reliance is placed upon the presence of the vertical grille bars and the upper ends of the rods are designed as disclosed to cooperate with these vertical grille bars. The hooks 38 form the lower termini of the rods. In the use of this construction, as contradistinguished from other cases, the resilience of the grille bars is used to permit the interlocking engagement desired; the grille bars addition provide handles by means of which the are sprung slightly when the rods are worked onto the grille.

In the construction of Figs. 8 to 85% inclusive, each rod includes a central portion 40 at whose upper end is a rearwardly directed downwardly open hook 4! adapted to hook over the upper edge of a horizontal cross bar II, and the rod is continued upwardly beyond the hook 4| and is deiio-cted laterally but not rearwardly as disclosed, to provide a portion 42 forming an extension which holds an upper portion of the cover tightly against the grille. The lower end of the central portion 40 is laterally and rearwardly bent to provide a loop hook 43 adapted to hook behind a vertical bar it and the lower terminal of the rod is rolled into a loop handle 44 which projects laterally of the rod as well as forwardly. The loop handle is used to rotate and manipulate the rod in the cover and when the cover is in its normal condition and the mounting operations are complete the loop portion 44 lies in front of and at the lower corner of the cover as shown in Fig. 80; when the cover is to be manipulated and applied to a grille, the rods are so rotated by means of the handles 44 thereof that the upper hooks il are in a position to snap over the upper cross bar H. Thereafter the rod is twisted by means of the handle 44 so that hooks 43 hook behind the vertical grille bars Ill, after which the handles it as they enter the grille; after these hooks 43 clear the grille bars and are in back of the same, they may be rotated to hook behind the vertical grille bars, either manually or by their own resilience.

In the construction of Figs. 9 to 9a, the central portion 48 of each rod terminates at its upper and lower ends in rearwardly and laterally directed hooks 48 and 50 and has no extensions above or below the hooks of the rod. Ac-

cess to an end of the rod for removing it from behind a grille bar is a matter of some 'diiiiculty and the obvious way of moving the end of a rod away from a grille bar would be to pull upon the fabric and thus to pull upon the rod and pull it away from the grille. Inasmuch as the fabrics used in grille covers are not sufficiently strong to withstand such treatment there is provided for each rod a pull strip 5! of leather or strong fabric riveted at 52 to an edge of the cover 2D and having an opening 53 through which passes the hook 50. When the cover is pulled away from the grille, the pull thereon is transmitted through pull strip 5| to the hook 5% which is then pulled away clear of the grille, and this action may be taken without imparting undue strain on the fabric as would otherwise be the case if the pull were directly through the fabric itself.

The construction of Figs. 10 and 10a in general resembles that of Figs. 6 to 6d differing therefrom only in the shapes of the hook loops 55 and 55 formed at the upper and lower ends of the central portion 51 and terminating in free extensions 58 and 59.

In the construction of Figs. 11 to 1112 inclusive the central portion 60 of the rod is formed with .a hook loop 'ol and an extension 62 at its upper end and it lower end terminates in a hook 63 adapted to hook behind the lower cross bar H. Inasmuch as no access to the hook 63 can be had when the cover is mounted, means manipulable from in front of the grille cover when the latter is mounted are provided to move the hook from the cross bar. Such means comprises a ring 6% and while the major portion of the ring is covered by the cover when the latter is mounted, a portion, however, of the ring is exposed and may be grasped for manipulation.

When the lower end of the ring is pulled forward of the grille the upper edge of the ring fulcrums on the grille so that the inner edge of the upper portion of the ring pushes the lower end of the rod away from the cross bar H, as indicated. Because of their minuteness and also because of their being covered by the fabric cover 20 to a large extent, the rings 64 do not detract from the appearance of the cover when mounted.

In the construction of Figs. 12 to 12b inclusive the rod includes a central portion 65 whose upper and lower ends terminate in out-of-line hooks 6'! and 68 adapted to hook behind diiferent vertical grille bars Ill. The lower end of the rod terminates in a laterally directed extension 69 which provides a handle by means of which the rods may be rotated in their beads for hooking behind grille bars. A cover having rods of the construction of the Figs. 12 to 1212 is not snapped onto the grille as are covers having rods of the other constructions herein disclosed but is worked onto the grille by first hooking the upper ends of the rods in back of certain grille bars and then hooking the lower hooks of the rods in back of and around other grille bars.

It will be observed that the cover itself operates to prevent the rods from passing clear through the grille bars and in certain instances the covers provide bearing surfaces for rods without which the rods could not be hooked behind the grille bars.

It will also be observed that the use of supporting and reinforcing rods such as heretofore disclosed, is an economical manner of support ing and fastening and stretching the covers over grilles and the constructions herein disclosed are more economical than constructions now known.

While the rods in the instances herein disclosed are mounted in the vertical edges of the grille covers, it will be observed that in special cases the rods may be formed on the horizontal edges of the grille covers.

The cover herein disclosed is provided with a central slit 29 which divides the upper portion of the cover into two portions, triangular flaps of which may be folded back on other portions to decrease the effective covering area provided by the cover and suitable arrangement of fasteners may be provided to hold the triangular flaps together with the slit 29 closed, or to hold them against the cover proper with the slit 29 distended. By virtue of the prov sion of the rods herein disclosed, the triangular flaps need not be folded forwardly, but as in Fig. 13, might well be folded inwardly or rearwardly, as disclosed in Fig. 14, resulting in a neater construction. This cannot be done readily in the event the covers are provided with fasteners now on the market because of the difficulty of manipulating the flaps, which difiiculty does not exist when the cover is provided with the reinforcing rods herein disclosed.

Now having disclosed a grille cover and various types of rods individually designed to fit individually tailored covers adapted to be mounted on various styles of grilles, reference is had to the claims which follow for a determination of the monopoly sought to be covered herein.

I claim:

1. For use with a grille of vertical bars having" horizontal cross pieces, a grille cover of fabric or the like having, at its opposed edges, stiffening and reinforcing rods each of which, at or near its two ends, has a hook-like formation for supporting and stretching the cover, the rods being permanently secured to the cover so as to be applicable to or removable from the grille with the cover, the hook-like end formations cooperating with the parts of the grille to interlock the rods to the grille and thus to support and stretch the cover over and in front of the grille.

2. A grille cover of fabric or the like having, at its two vertical edges, reinforcing rods each of which, at or near its two ends, has a hook-like formation for supporting and stretching the cover, the rods having extensions beyond the hooks for providing manipulating handles for the rod ends.

3. A grille cover of fabric or the like having, at its twovertical edges, reinforcing rods each of which, at or near its two ends, has a hook-like formation, for supporting and stretching the cover, the cover edges having fabric strips connecting them to portions of the rods whereby pulling away of the fabric cover from the grille will impart a pull on the rods, through the strips. to pull the rods away from the grille, without the pull being exerted through the fabric cover itself at the portions thereof where the rods are secured thereto.

4. For use with a grille of vertical bars having horizontal cross pieces, a grille cover of fabric or the like having, at its two vertical edges, reinforcing rods each of which, at its two ends, has a hook-like formation for supporting and stretching the cover, the hook-like end formations cooperating with the parts of the grille to interlock the rods to the grille and thus to support and stretch the cover over and in front of the grille, the cover having levers for and independent of the cover or the rods for enabling the hook ends to be pulled away from the adjacent grille parts by a lever action, without imparting a pull on the cover, the lever being outside of the cover edges.

5. A construction of the character described in claim 1 wherein the rods are so mounted in the edge of the cover as to be rotatable therein though being otherwise substantially bodily immovable therein.

6. A construction of the character described in claim 1 wherein the rods are so mounted in the edge of the cover as to be rotatable therein though being otherwise substantially bodily immovable therein, the rods also having extensions beyond the hooks for maintaining taut the edges of the cover beyond the hooks.

7. A construction of the character described in claim 1 wherein the rods have extensions beyond the hooks for maintaining taut the edges of the cover beyond the hooks.

ROBERT E. LINN. 

